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horrorbutch 's review for:
Lavender Clouds: Comics about Neurodivergence and Mental Health
by Bex Ollerton
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.
This book is a collection of short comic strips centered around the author's life and her experience with mental health, neurodivergence, burn out, trauma, healing and more in that field.
I have made it a goal of mine this year to read more books by and for disabled authors and audiences and in that regard this is definitely a very interesting book. I often found myself nodding along in understanding to some parts and relating the experiences of friends and loved ones to others.
And while I definitely don't think any memoir about mental health needs to be constantly upbeat and positive, I found this anthology a bit... taxing at times in its repetition of the negative aspects without any real strategies shown to deal with it. I had expected a bit more in the field of resilience and explorations of how exactly the fields of being an artist overlap with the authors experience of neurodivergence (there is some, but it doesn't really delve as deep as I had hoped it would). I unfortunately have to also say that my enjoyment of this book suffered since I a have been reading quite a few books in the field of neurodivergence and mental health this year and maybe that led to me just expecting a bit too much of this one.
The art style is very interesting and easy to follow and I particularly enjoyed the way art was used to portray various emotional states, I enjoyed that a lot! And despite my issues, this is a book I will be recommending to my neurodivergent artist friends, who might enjoy it more than I did!
This book is a collection of short comic strips centered around the author's life and her experience with mental health, neurodivergence, burn out, trauma, healing and more in that field.
I have made it a goal of mine this year to read more books by and for disabled authors and audiences and in that regard this is definitely a very interesting book. I often found myself nodding along in understanding to some parts and relating the experiences of friends and loved ones to others.
And while I definitely don't think any memoir about mental health needs to be constantly upbeat and positive, I found this anthology a bit... taxing at times in its repetition of the negative aspects without any real strategies shown to deal with it. I had expected a bit more in the field of resilience and explorations of how exactly the fields of being an artist overlap with the authors experience of neurodivergence (there is some, but it doesn't really delve as deep as I had hoped it would). I unfortunately have to also say that my enjoyment of this book suffered since I a have been reading quite a few books in the field of neurodivergence and mental health this year and maybe that led to me just expecting a bit too much of this one.
The art style is very interesting and easy to follow and I particularly enjoyed the way art was used to portray various emotional states, I enjoyed that a lot! And despite my issues, this is a book I will be recommending to my neurodivergent artist friends, who might enjoy it more than I did!